Jim Wallis on Fox News

Evangelical Christian writer Jim Wallis hits Fox News right in its hypocritical little heart on his blog, God's Politics.

Gretchen Carlson tells stories about food-stamp recipients jetting off to Vegas. Of course, what billionaire casino owners are doing, the morality of what is happening in their casinos, or that one of the owners is literally paying for ultra-conservative candidates and campaigns, are not a problem for Fox News.

Former presidential candidate Herman Cain claims that the government allows food-stamp recipients to use their benefits at gyms. Stewart correctly points out that Cain, who is not known for keeping facts straight, is wrong. While it may be true of Medicare Advantage or some state Medicare programs, it is not for the SNAP program.

A Neil Cavuto guest laments that some want to use SNAP benefits to pay for diapers, saying — and I quote: “The swaddling cloths were good enough for baby Jesus; they are probably good enough for your baby too.” Really?

When is the last time you heard Fox rail against waste in the Pentagon, or corporate tax loopholes, or off-shore tax havens for the very wealthy? Fox commentators rail against the $3 billion of tax money has been lost to trafficking fraud and overpayments each year, but call the $4 billion wasteful federal dollars that go for subsidies to oil companies already making record profits a mere “pittance.” That is the blatant moral hypocrisy of Fox. The U.S. loses an estimated $150 billion dollars a year to tax avoidance schemes by the super-rich — something Fox actually praises.

The clips from those Daily Show commentaries are below and I suggest you take a few moments to watch them. They reveal what I am calling Fox News’ “preferential option for the rich,” which is in stark contrast to the gospel’s “preferential option for the poor” and what Pope Francis is now calling the church back to. Fox News’ repeated preference for the rich and condemnations of the poor is not just a political or economic issue, but a moral and religious failure. The faith community, in particular, should take note.